New Line Cinema to develop big screen adaptation of Stephen King's 'It'

LOS ANGELES, May 21 (UPI) -- New Line Cinema plans to develop a big screen adaptation of Stephen King's It.

The movie has been in development for five years at Warner Bros., but the Hollywood Reporter reports New Line Cinema has assumed responsibility for the project. The studio is a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and is said to be rerouting its focus to horror films.

Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) was brought on board in 2012 to direct two films, with Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg as producers. It, written in 1986, was previously adapted as a two-part television movie in 1990.

The novel follows the "Losers Club" -- a group of children who are terrorized by a creature they call "It." The being often appears in the form of a clown, but has the ability to assume the shape of what its victims fear most.

The children are able to defeat it, but must reunite as adults when the creature returns. The new adaptation is envisioned as a two-part film; the first would follow the group as children, the second would tell their story as adults.

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